High court upholds health care act; Republicans keep fighting

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Correspondent- | Last updated: Jul 10, 2012 - 3:16:36 PM

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - By the narrowest of margins, and with the most unlikely imaginable allies, the Supreme Court—the biggest remaining threat to—the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform bill and the main legislative victory of his first term, upheld the law June 28.

Chief Justice John Roberts proved to be the surprise deciding vote, joining with the court’s four liberal members—Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotamayor, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Citing the authority of Congress to impose taxes, the decision affirms the law’s individual mandate provision that requires Americans who can afford it to either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty by 2014.

Shortly after the ruling came down, President Obama said the Supreme Court had ended the long-running debate over his health care law.

“The highest court in the land has now spoken,” Mr. Obama said at the White House. “We will continue to implement this law. And we’ll work together to improve on it where we can. But what we won’t do, what the country can’t afford to do, is re-fight the political battles of two years ago or go back to the way things were.”

Although the decision was initially incorrectly reported by broadcasters FOX News and CNN, Democrats reacted to their Supreme Court victory calmly.

“Yesterday the United States Supreme Court reaffirmed that no family should live one illness or accident away from bankruptcy,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters outside the Senate Chamber. “The court’s decision isn’t a victory for Democrats or for President Obama, it’s a true victory for the American people.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) used similar language. “This decision is a victory for the American people. With this ruling, Americans will benefit from critical patient protections, lower costs for the middle class, more coverage for families, and greater accountability for the insurance industry.

“In passing health reform, we made history for our nation and progress for the American people. We completed the unfinished business of our society and strengthened the character of our country. We ensured health care would be a right for all, not a privilege for the few. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed our progress and protected that right, securing a future of health and economic security for the middle class and for every American,” Mrs. Pelosi said.

The decision clears the way for the largest revamping of America’s healthcare system since the 1960s. Although the law remains mostly intact, the court ruled against a provision that allows the federal government to withhold Medicaid funding from states that don’t comply with the program’s expansion.

For their part, instead of accepting the Supreme Court’s decision as the “law of the land,” Republicans believe the court’s upholding of the health care law could once again arouse conservatives who fiercely protested its passage in 2010.

House Speaker John Boehner said that Congress needs to “rip” the health care law “out by its roots.” Republicans, he told CBS News, approve of some of the provisions in the law, but Mr. Boehner says he wants to repeal the entire bill and restart a “commonsense debate.”

“We need to start over, one step at a time,” Speaker Boehner said in an interview June 29 with correspondent Norah O’Donnell which aired July 1 on “Face the Nation.” “This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. The American people do not want to go down this path. They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy, and how much they have to pay for it.”

Mr. Boehner called on Congress to “start over.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has promised the Republican-led House will take up a repeal vote on July 11th when Congress returns from its Independence Day recess.

That would amount to looking backward, and that is exactly what the American people don’t want, according to Mr. Reid. “This law has already changed the lives of millions of Americans in so many different ways for the better. The Supreme Court has spoken. The matter is settled.

“With millions of Americans still struggling in this tough economy, we can’t look back, we need to look forward. We shouldn’t waste time, re-fighting old, old battles. We should focus on creating jobs, improving the economy of the people of this country,” Mr. Reid continued. “Yet Republicans in Congress have made it clear that instead of focusing on jobs, they want to keep having this old, old political fight.”

Shortly after the decision was announced, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor the Supreme Court ruling “doesn’t mark the end of the debate. It marks a fresh start on the road to repeal.”

Congress “should be spending (their) time focusing on jobs,” Mr. Reid told reporters in response to a question from The Final Call. “We have millions of people who are under-employed or unemployed. That’s why we’re here today, telling each of you that we’re focusing continually on job creation and we need the Republicans to join with us. America needs economic help.

“So to answer your question: ‘Is it wasting their time?’ They should be spending it on jobs,” Mr. Reid said. He went on to compare presumptive Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s threat to repeal the law if he’s elected in November to a “yo yo, because we never know where he stands from one time to another. One time he’s up, one time he’s down. As we’ve seen with Gov. Romney, one thing that’s consistent about him is his inconsistency.”

Despite Republican threats to the contrary, Democratic leaders insist that the Supreme Court decision on the health care legislation means that “there is no more uncertainty” about the benefits to millions of people provided by the legislation.

Among those benefits, according to Mrs. Pelosi: “Children can no longer be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions; seniors are paying less for prescription drugs; students and young adults can stay on their parents’ health care plans; and being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition.”

Some liberals, on the other hand—who complained at the time that the legislation did not go far enough, either providing a “public option,” to insurance company-provided health care, or “Medicare for all,” which they described as the best solution—accepted the court’s decision as a starting place.

“Let me state the positive first,” Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, producer of the health-industry film “Sicko” told Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!” “This is—this really is a huge victory for our side, in spite of all of my concerns with this law. It didn’t go far enough. It doesn’t cover all Americans. This is not true universal health care.

“Nonetheless, the right wing has been handed a serious defeat today. This is a real—a real smackdown of their—the way that they believe our country should be structured. And on that alone, everybody should feel really good right now. I know we’re not used to euphoria over anything. It rarely happens. But in this case, I think that everybody should pause today and celebrate this victory,” said Mr. Moore.

“And then, tomorrow, we have to keep moving the ball down the field. We have to work toward Medicare for all, so that everyone’s covered, a single-payer system, all these things. It would have been a lot harder to move that ball had the decision gone the other way today. That’s why the best thing about this is, is that it moves history forward on the right path, toward what we will eventually have, just as every other civilized country has it. So, I’m—on that level, I feel really good.

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